For once I have to agree with Jim regarding the subjective experience of color, and cross swords with Morgan's dogmatic statements. Anybody who has ever been at the receiving end of a sharp smack in the eye can testify to the subjectivity of color perception. Then too there is the persistent green retinal image "seen" after staring at a bright red one for a while. Also there are the colors "seen" as the result of the smoking or ingestion of certain vegetable derivatives, which colored a good deal of the 1960's culture! None of these phenomena are due to electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength. I submit that the mind pulls these "colors" out of memory to assign labels to otherwise indescribable sensations. Similar to those odors which "taste" like something one knows. John W. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Muth" <jamth@mindspring.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 8:07 AM Subject: RE: [Fractint] FOTD 17-11-02 (The Bluest Atom [5])
At 08:16 AM 11/20/02 -0600, Mark Freeze wrote:
<snipped>
...If color is not determined by wavelength, then how is it determined?...
It is largely determined by the wave length of the light striking the retina of the eye. But the situation is not so simple. The sensation of color can also be produced by a white light that flickers on and off at the proper rate. I have seen strong color by staring at a white sky through the blades of a rotating exhaust fan. And we have all seen those disks with black and white patterns on them that create the impression of color when spun at the proper rate. In these cases, the color most certainly exists only in the mind.
Jim M.
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